didn’t make sense to Sebastian. He’d traced from Russia to London to buy clothing, but
he couldn’t imagine the exact route. If merely seeing the location was the requirement,
then why couldn’t a person be a destination?
What if there was more to tracing, and his brothers didn’t understand everything about it?
They had been newly turned themselves all those years ago and had admitted their
ignorance about so much in the Lore.
It might be that vampires traced to individuals every day...
Sebastian was unique among his family—he was the dedicated scholar, the one
introspective son among four. In battle, Sebastian had used cunning as much as strength,
relying on foresight as much as on past training. He was a thinker who liked to solve
problems, and his father had instilled in him the belief that the mind was capable of
unimaginable feats if one were strong enough to believe them possible.
And Sebastian needed to believe that tracing to her was possible. The alternative was to
wait out the villagers, which was untenable.
His family had known he’d been courted by chivalric and church orders, as well as other
secret sects of arcane knowledge, seeking to recruit him. What they didn’t know was that
he’d accepted an offer with the Eestlane Brothers of the Sword, learning about the world
from isolated Blachmount, corresponding with masters of physics, astronomy, all of the
sciences. Eventually, he’d even sailed the Baltic and North Seas to be knighted in London
.
While his brothers had been fighting each other or chasing women, Sebastian had been
studying, growing confident in his ability to learn.
It might just be that Sebastian’s sacrifices then would benefit him now, as he chased the
only female who’d ever mattered to him.
Filled with a burning determination, Sebastian had traced back and forth to places he only
vaguely remembered from boyhood, studying the amount of effort, the amount of mental
clarity, required.
He convinced himself that he just needed to see her as clearly as a location.
There was danger inherent in tracing to a place unseen. She could be under an equatorial
sun at noon , and he could be too stunned to get away. She could be on a plane. If his
trace was mere feet off, he could be sucked into an engine.
Hell, it would have been worth it.
Perhaps when Kaderin had determined that everything was under control, she might have
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer ( http://www.novapdf.com ) done so too hastily.
Since that night, her blessing had been behaving like an engine in an old Karmann Ghia
convertible—sometimes it slipped. There she’d be, cruising along, the same as usual, then,
out of nowhere—a slip.
For instance, right now, she felt an odd, hollow kind of ache. She thought she was...
worried. Coincidentally, Kaderin had a pressing urge to know if her niece, seventy-year-
old Emmaline, the daughter of Helen, was better. The last time Kaderin had checked in
with her New Orleans coven, she’d learned that Emma had been critically injured by a
vampire.
She rang the manor, hoping she wouldn’t get Regin the Radiant. Kaderin wasn’t ready to
talk to her, not yet, not so soon after her reckless morning with the vampire.
Regin’s entire race had been annihilated by the Horde.
Kaderin had molded Regin into a killer like herself, training her and stoking her hatred of
vampires. “Sword up! Remember your mother,” she’d told the girl again and again, and all
the while she was telling herself, Remember your sisters.
Don’t be Regin...
Regin answered with: “Bridge. Uhura here.” Kaderin sighed, then shook her head at the
Star Trek reference. Kaderin did not appreciate Star Trek references.
Yet that was the thing about Regin. Aside from her boiling hatred of vampires, she was
easygoing, quick to laugh, a prankster.
“Hi, Regin, it’s Kaderin.” She swallowed. “I’m calling to check on Emma. Is
he couldn’t imagine the exact route. If merely seeing the location was the requirement,
then why couldn’t a person be a destination?
What if there was more to tracing, and his brothers didn’t understand everything about it?
They had been newly turned themselves all those years ago and had admitted their
ignorance about so much in the Lore.
It might be that vampires traced to individuals every day...
Sebastian was unique among his family—he was the dedicated scholar, the one
introspective son among four. In battle, Sebastian had used cunning as much as strength,
relying on foresight as much as on past training. He was a thinker who liked to solve
problems, and his father had instilled in him the belief that the mind was capable of
unimaginable feats if one were strong enough to believe them possible.
And Sebastian needed to believe that tracing to her was possible. The alternative was to
wait out the villagers, which was untenable.
His family had known he’d been courted by chivalric and church orders, as well as other
secret sects of arcane knowledge, seeking to recruit him. What they didn’t know was that
he’d accepted an offer with the Eestlane Brothers of the Sword, learning about the world
from isolated Blachmount, corresponding with masters of physics, astronomy, all of the
sciences. Eventually, he’d even sailed the Baltic and North Seas to be knighted in London
.
While his brothers had been fighting each other or chasing women, Sebastian had been
studying, growing confident in his ability to learn.
It might just be that Sebastian’s sacrifices then would benefit him now, as he chased the
only female who’d ever mattered to him.
Filled with a burning determination, Sebastian had traced back and forth to places he only
vaguely remembered from boyhood, studying the amount of effort, the amount of mental
clarity, required.
He convinced himself that he just needed to see her as clearly as a location.
There was danger inherent in tracing to a place unseen. She could be under an equatorial
sun at noon , and he could be too stunned to get away. She could be on a plane. If his
trace was mere feet off, he could be sucked into an engine.
Hell, it would have been worth it.
Perhaps when Kaderin had determined that everything was under control, she might have
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer ( http://www.novapdf.com ) done so too hastily.
Since that night, her blessing had been behaving like an engine in an old Karmann Ghia
convertible—sometimes it slipped. There she’d be, cruising along, the same as usual, then,
out of nowhere—a slip.
For instance, right now, she felt an odd, hollow kind of ache. She thought she was...
worried. Coincidentally, Kaderin had a pressing urge to know if her niece, seventy-year-
old Emmaline, the daughter of Helen, was better. The last time Kaderin had checked in
with her New Orleans coven, she’d learned that Emma had been critically injured by a
vampire.
She rang the manor, hoping she wouldn’t get Regin the Radiant. Kaderin wasn’t ready to
talk to her, not yet, not so soon after her reckless morning with the vampire.
Regin’s entire race had been annihilated by the Horde.
Kaderin had molded Regin into a killer like herself, training her and stoking her hatred of
vampires. “Sword up! Remember your mother,” she’d told the girl again and again, and all
the while she was telling herself, Remember your sisters.
Don’t be Regin...
Regin answered with: “Bridge. Uhura here.” Kaderin sighed, then shook her head at the
Star Trek reference. Kaderin did not appreciate Star Trek references.
Yet that was the thing about Regin. Aside from her boiling hatred of vampires, she was
easygoing, quick to laugh, a prankster.
“Hi, Regin, it’s Kaderin.” She swallowed. “I’m calling to check on Emma. Is
Similar Books
